Recap
How did you use something you own to bless someone else recently?
Main Thought
Approval can be a good thing. It helps us form community, and it can be used to reinforce us when we’re on the right path. But we can become addicted to approval from other people when it becomes our ultimate source of identity, joy, or love. In such a situation, we’ll do anything - including actions that offend God, hurt people, and ultimately hurt ourselves - to win approval. God’s love sets us free from an addiction to approval. God’s approval is constant because it depends on His grace and not our actions. If we’ll trust and remember God’s opinion of us, then we’ll be set free from being controlled by the opinions of other people
Main Passages
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
- Proverbs 29:2510 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
- Galatians 1:1020 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
- Galatians 2:20
Discussion Questions
Approval addicts battle three problems: obsessing over what others think, being overly sensitive to criticism, and struggling to say “no.” Which problem most describes you? Why do you have a hard time with that problem?
If we were to prioritize Christ’s approval over the approval of others, how might that change our lives and our relationships?
Apply
Pick some of the following scriptures. (You can read them all if you want!) Read them, think about what they mean, and remember who God says you are this week.
2 Corinthians 5:17, 20-21
Ephesians 1:7
Romans 8:11, 13, and 37
Ephesians 2:10
Matthew 5:14